PC World - USA (2019-02)

FEBRUARY 2019 PCWorld 63

using 3D (layered) TLC
(Triple-Level Cell/3-bit)
NAND marshaled by a
Silicon Motion SM-2262EN
controller. It’s a full four-lane
PCIe 3.0 implementation,
not two lanes like many
other bargain-priced NVMe
SSDs such as Kingston’s
A1000 (go.pcworld.com/ka10).
There’s a DRAM cache on board (an
unspecified amount, likely 512MB),
secondary cache to the tune of approximately
1.2 percent of capacity, and a tertiary cache
that can expand up to approximately 15
percent of capacity. That has a lot to do with
the drive’s performance, though it’s no slouch
when it runs out of cache either.
About the only outstanding physical
characteristic is the logo’s heat
spreader, which the company
includes in the package. It’s
unattached, but thermal adhesive
is already applied so it’s an easy
mod to make. It’s not necessary
to the long-term health of the
drive, but a nice touch.
The SX8200 Pro is available in
three capacities: 256GB
(currently about $75 on Amazon
[go.pcworld.com/sx82]), 512GB
(currently about $120 on Amazon
[go.pcworld.com/sx82]), and the 1TB
we tested, currently about $215 on Amazon

(go.pcworld.com/sx82). Wow. Note that I

tested only the 1TB version, the less

capacious models will have less cache and

garner lower numbers. Speaking of which...

PERFORMANCE

I took Adata’s claim that the SX8200 Pro would

perform on a par with, or better than, the

top-rated Samsung 970 Pro with several very

large grains of salt. Well, dye my hair red and

The SX8200 Pro is by far the best performing drive in its price range.

Samsung’s 970 EVO matches if for relatively small amounts of data, but

slows down more quickly on long writes.